But why use distilled in the first place ? Bottled water is every where now and cheaper than distilled.. Wish someone woulld have told me 20 yrs ago to buy bottle water stock.

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because if you need to use it in your cooling system of your vehicle, you should use dH2O, otherwise you will need to flush the system to avoid corrosion. But any water will work in emergency. I buy distilled water for 83 cents/gal at the grocery store; I also have methanol/water injection in a couple of my toyotas which requires distilled water to avoid corrosion also.

but having water is the important thing, without that you're not gonna make it very far.

hahha, my old 4runner leaks coolant, gotta top her off about every 2-3 weeks.

off topic here, but you can test the amount of corrosion in your system with a DMM/voltmeter; stick the positive lead in the coolant itself (don't touch it to anything but the coolant itself) and negative lead on a good ground; if the reading is 0-5v, you are good. 6 or 7 and higher means you have significant enough particulates to warrant a flush and refill.

since I have a bunch of vehicles, I made them all toolkits (emergency ones anyway) from cheapo Harbor freight tools; about $75-100 will get you enough to fix just about anything that can be fixed without a shop. In good tools, that would be something like $500+, not good tools but enough to get the job done at least once without breaking the bank.

I also carry a portable air compressor, you can get little ones for as little (and crappy) as $8 up to ARB on board air compressor/tanks for $700. Good to be able to fill up a bum tire, I keep a plug/patch kit ($5) in each tool kit also.

plus, if you get stuck in snow or sand, you can air down your tires a bit to gain traction and once out on the road you can air up again.

I'm an advid jeeper, keep GHB in each jeep, plus a full size spare, tool kit (all hand tools), spare fluids and parts. As for spare parts I usually carry stuff like axle shafts and spare yokes but in an lifted jeep the parts under the most stress really change compared to a normal vehicles and I encourage you to look up what you should carry for your vehicle, I even carry different parts between my two jeeps.

I almost always leave my BOB at home, its a plastic water resistant chest that I filled with mostly camping gear since its primarly used for camping but also could be used for survival as I have supplies included and plenty of gear. It's small and light enough that one person can carry it and fit it in the jeep and has a large sack inside it just in case I ever need to go portable and put it on my back.

my friend.. when the SHTF you will be the guy sleeping in your car on the side of the road, hungry and thirsty. I'll try to wave when I pass you.

The entire point of a GHB or BOB is having it when you need it.

If by only taking it when you when you think you will need it.. then.. well.. I hope yo can predict the future. and if so.. I need to get with you on some lottery advice and the next horse raise (wink).

having a practical yet non over the top BOB/GHB is EASY.

last year my buddies teenager made 'zombie apocylapse' prep boxes for 'the guys' that come over and go shooting..e tc.

these were in flip open top 'tupperware' type boxes the same size as a shoe box.

each kit had seperate ziplock bags in it stuffed with various items... some rubber gloves, a led flashlight, cheap knife, pack of twine, few feet of solid wire, pair of cotton gloves with ruberized fingers, some hand sanitizer and individual hand wipes. 3 1-use superglue tubes and a mini roll of duct tape and some sterile sealed gauze pads.

they were cheap to put together as most of those items were 1$ items at a dollar store / harbor freight.. etc. putting together 4 boxes cost about 20$ boxes included. we got them at halloween last year so it was fun. 3 times in the last month i've gone into that box to use something. ( glue , flashlight, piece of tape ).

I do lots of farm work and driving to jobsites for construction work. I almost always have a few bottles of watter rolling aound in the back seat. For the same reason.. I almost always have a can or two of nutritional drink/protien shake and a box of healthy meal bars. I can't always run off the farm and hit lunch.. so sometimes it's a choclate protien shake and a fi-bar etc..

that pretty much is an emergency get home kit...

Looking at the recs and whatnot.. x days or xx days of food someone needs.. and the various ways to go about storing it.. I can tell you one thing I do.

at my house.. I keep a good supply of those nutritional drinks/protien shakes.

they take up the same space as a bottled water.. and are food+drink.

in most cases the experts tell you not to eat if you are dehydrated.. you need fluid for digestion. having a meal you can drink is not the same as having surplus water.. but if packing space is limited and you need 3 days worth of emergency food and water.. a case of shakes and some extra water takes up about the same space as the water alone.. minus bulky food. easy to eat on the go... don't have to unpak and prepair it like some of the milspec and civiliat flat packed ration meals.. especially the dehydrated ones..

ps.. I ALWAYS got a firearm with me... that's a no brainer... add to that a good tool kit in the vehicle.. and I got a chance anyway... better than a smack and poke with a sharp stick anyway..

soundguy

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I always have a few things on me including a pistol and a way to start a fire. 29 miles as the crow flies to get home. No reason to carry all that stuff on a nice October day My pistol and fire starter will suffice

I always have a few things on me including a pistol and a way to start a fire. 29 miles as the crow flies to get home. No reason to carry all that stuff on a nice October day My pistol and fire starter will suffice

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if the stuff tryly has hit the fan. that nice 29 mile pleasure hike may turn into somethng worse.

what if the reason you can't get home was a car accident.

you gonna bandage that cut with a gun or a fire?

they are reasonable items that we are carrying.

failure to do so likel;y means that when we pass you on the road, we find your looted corpse a few miles from the vehicle you HAD BEEN sleeping in.. oh yeah.. but you were warm because you had a fire, and they left a thank you note pinned to your body, thanking you for the gun.

minimalistic approach to survival is fine if you want minimal results.

I always have a few things on me including a pistol and a way to start a fire. 29 miles as the crow flies to get home. No reason to carry all that stuff on a nice October day My pistol and fire starter will suffice

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If you are walking, something has happed! Did you just run out of gas? Not if you are taking the route of the crow! 29 miles as the crow flies, might turn into 60 miles as the man walks, unless you can fly! If your car is no longer running, and you didn't run out of gas, (EMT) then probably nobody's car is running. So they are out walking to! Now the woods are crowded, and you need to seek cover, and move quitely so you won't be found by others. 29 miles as the crow flies has just become an ordeal that could last up to a week! Opps, I forgot, you didn't prepare for water, so you never made it home!

If you are walking, something has happed! Did you just run out of gas? Not if you are taking the route of the crow! 29 miles as the crow flies, might turn into 60 miles as the man walks, unless you can fly! If your car is no longer running, and you didn't run out of gas, (EMT) then probably nobody's car is running. So they are out walking to! Now the woods are crowded, and you need to seek cover, and move quitely so you won't be found by others. 29 miles as the crow flies has just become an ordeal that could last up to a week! Opps, I forgot, you didn't prepare for water, so you never made it home!

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EXACTLY!

simple emergency? yeah right.. when is an emergency simple..

being prepaired is the best defense.

being minimally prepaired means you live just a little bit longer than the guy that wasn't prepaired at all. Hopefully leaving a good fire starter or other usefull items on your corpseso that those of us that are prepaired, when we find you.. can scavange it.. if the others didn't pick it clean already..

If I can't take care of myself, I can't take care of my wife, and children. Since my responsibility is to them, then I have to make very sure that I am around to provide, and protect, them! I can't do that if I haven't given thought to, and prepared for, just about anything I can think of!